By Mark Cross
TxDOT
FORT WORTH (Oct. 2005) – It’s Wednesday, August 31, Katrina made landfall a couple of days ago and the Gulf Coast region is reeling. The 26- person staff at Meacham Airport in Fort Worth has received word that the facility has been selected to serve as one of six potential evacuation shelters in the city for evacuated residents.
Work begins immediately to convert an almost empty terminal, once used by Mesa Airlines, and a concourse into a shelter where people can live for, not just a few days, but a few weeks, if necessary.
Mike Feeley, director of the City of Fort Worth’s aviation operations, is the pilot for this journey.
Feeley is manager of three of the city’s airports – Meacham, Alliance and Spinks. His experience in spearheading aviation operations comes in handy because coordination and quick-thinking skills are suddenly in very high demand.
By Thursday, confirmation that the site will be used as an evacuation shelter still has not come. That doesn’t stop the staff at this general aviation facility from getting things ready for the building’s transformation.
Restrooms are quickly converted – soft plumbing is completed to add showers and privacy areas – to bathrooms. Partitions are erected to provide living space and, at the same time, maintain an area where regular aviation operations can continue.
A donor for inflatable mattresses is found and hundreds are delivered to the airport almost immediately.
“Blowing up 132 air mattresses might have been the most difficult task for us in the beginning,” Feeley said
The airport receives $4,500 worth of blankets, which are donated to compliment the mattresses that would become the only sleeping surfaces many would have for days and maybe weeks to come.
Friday afternoon the confirmation for putting the shelter into operation comes. The city informs the Meacham staff they will receive 146 evacuees – lovingly referred to as “guests,” not evacuees by the airport staff. About l :30 a.m. six buses arrive delivering the guests.
The individuals arrive having been routed from the New Orleans Superdome to the Houston Astrodome to Meacham Airport. They come with literally nothing in hand.
Panic ensues almost immediately upon arrival for many, especially teenagers, once they discover they have been separated from parents or other relatives who were sent to Dallas’ Reunion Arena.
Unexpectedly, Feeley and his staff quickly discover they must become comforters for those who appear distraught from Katrina-related events experienced during the days leading up to this one.
Several individuals are somewhat traumatized by the recent events – losing their homes and jobs, being evacuated to another state, experiencing separation anxiety, and trauma suffered in general as a result of Hurricane Katrina.
Feeley and staff began registering the guests and getting them situated in their new temporary living space.
While registering the guests, Feeley and his staff soon realize some basic items needed have not yet been purchased, procured or even thought of.
“I remember going with Mike at 2:30 in the morning to Wal-Mart to buy pillows, towels, etc. for 200 plus people,” said Angie Highland-Martin, Meacham’s fiscal coordinator.
By Sunday Feeley and his staff each have put in more than 40 hours of overtime.
Yet their job was not done yet. There were special needs individuals in the mix and things like wheelchairs, diapers and medication had yet to be procured. Even dumpsters had to be acquired to handle the increase in trash generated by the sudden increase in airport population.
Not a problem. Feeley and staff were able to procure these things and more almost immediately.
The private community responded quickly and greatly.
At daybreak Saturday, citizens began bringing needed items to the airport. The donations became so numerous and voluminous that airport staff had to redirect donors to the American Red Cross – which had committed to providing three meals per day for the guests – because of storage limitations.
A second load of 146 individuals arrived later Saturday.
By Sunday things began to settle down a bit. The guests were beginning to get comfortable in their new, temporary quarters.
Late that night several women from the group of guests approached “Mr. Mike” (the quickly adopted nickname for Feeley) with a suggestion.
The next day would be Labor Day.
The group inquired about holding a celebration during the holiday to celebrate life and all the birthdays occurring during this memorable time. They even offered their government food allocations as sustenance for the celebration.
Feeley, who at this point had already proven he was one to exceed expectations, agreed they should hold some sort of event celebrating survival. The only disagreement he voiced dealt with the expenditure of the guest’s small food allocations. He insisted on taking responsibility for providing the party favors.
Labor Day, a media-covered event was held in the Meacham Airport evacuation shelter. Local area mayors and other elected officials attended the gala event. While this may not have seemed like an ideal time for celebrating to the rest of the world it was just the opposite for those involved in this celebration.
Businesses, churches and city employees provided everything needed. The city’s public information office even supplied a sound system for the event.
Tuesday, business as usual, for some, was to resume. The airport staff still had their normal duties to take care of in spite of the fact they had been working around-the-clock for the last several days.
Even school-age children were sent to area schools in yet another attempt to keep things as normal as possible for these airport guests.
By this time, many of the guests were getting settled in while others made arrangements to travel in hopes of reuniting with family members.
Feeley wasn’t through performing what seemed like miracles yet.
There was a guest who appeared to be having a really difficult time being separated from her family.
Determined to make all of his guests happy, Feeley asked the young lady what it was she needed to make things easier for her. Doubting it would ever happen, she replied that she would like to join her relatives in another state. It wasn’t long before Feeley was able to give her the departure time for the flight he had arranged to take her to the desired destination.
“It’s not often aviation gets involved,” said Feeley. “Our stakeholders really stepped up to the plate.”
The amazing stories about this little airport shelter go on and on and are far too numerous to be detailed in one sitting. But they are a testament to the hard-working devotion of not only a small airport staff, but of a whole community that showed up when it counted most.
The architects of this aviation facility probably never imagined it would one day serve as a temporary home for some.
The employees probably never imagined having to perform work tasks requiring such humanitarian skills.
Nevertheless, these things were accomplished at a time when people seemed to need them most.
The experience was life-changing for both hosts and guests. One adolescent told Feeley that she plans to return to Fort Worth to live as an adult because the impression they made on her was unlike any she’d ever experienced.
Sure this could be viewed as just another story that we hope has a very happy ending. But it’s more than that – it’s a story that provides proof of the existence of individuals in our society who care just as much for strangers in need as they do their own.
